Midnight Exchange
by Mrowrkat98
Summary: Set at the end of book two. Eragon is pained and Saphira knows that she can end it, but her oaths forbid her to.


Eragon was exhausted. Saphira could feel his growing need for sleep.

_How?_ he asked Saphira. _How can it be true?_

She held her tongue. She wanted to tell him. She yearned to tell him. _Hush, little one. All will be fine._

How will it be fine Saphira? All these years I wondered who my father was. I yearned to know my past. Now I regret finding out. Saphira, MORZAN is my father. The man who betrayed the Shur'tugal and brought the war on. The man who caused so much pain created me.

Saphira felt uneasy. She so wanted to tell him. _Eragon, Morzan did not start the war. Galbatorix did. Galbatorix used and manipulated Morzan. It is not alone his fault that the dragon riders fell._

_It is,_ Eragon argued. _It is Morzan's fault. My father's fault._

Saphira snorted, a small jet of flame and much smoke spouted from her nostrils. She snaked her head to face Eragon. _You are foolish, little one. Do you believe that just because he is husband to your mother that he is your father? Garrow is your father. Brom is our father. Oromis and Glaedr are more of our fathers than Morzan is._

_That doesn't change who I come from. Most men turn out like their fathers. How am I to avoid that fate?_

She snorted again, startling Eragon. _Little one, you are mistaken. 'Most men' as you say, were raised by their fathers. Murtagh was raised by Morzan. Of course he betrayed you._

Eragon started. He hadn't meant…… but he had. Saphira had taken the thoughts from his head. She understood them better than he. He hadn't been angry that Morzan was his father so much, or that there was a new rider on Galbatorix's side. He was angry because he had thought that Murtagh, his brother as it turned out, was his friend. Instead, his friend was the enemy. His friend that he had confided in and trusted with all his being, had betrayed his trust and joined the enemy.

_I love you, little one,_ Saphira said quietly. She curled her tail around him, shielding a part of her memory from Eragon. He was too upset to notice. She was grateful. Eragon was not yet ready for the information she had been given. Although she wished with all her might that she could tell him and stop his pain, she recoiled from the onslaught of questions that it would arise.

_It's like Blagden said, both of us are blind as bats,_ Eragon said.

Blagden had told all to Eragon, but the foolish hatchling had not been able to decipher his message properly. Saphira had known what it meant long ago. She had hidden it. Brom would have wished her to keep it secret. Eragon had to discover the truth on his own, or Oromis would have to tell him. It was not Saphira's place.

But Eragon was crying. Saphira's rider was in great despair. It was her duty to comfort him. Her duty to make him better. She had to protect him.

Eragon snuggled closer to Saphira, tears wetting her belly. She warmed him with the fire and stretched a wing over him. Her head rested close to his face. With every sob, Saphira felt as if there were a dagger being pushed deeper and deeper into her heart. A silent tear rolled down her cheek.

_It is unfair, little one._ Saphira said quietly. _But be relieved. We are alive, we are well. Do not be upset. We will always have hope._

_Saphira, there is no way out. I must kill my brother. Do you not see that? I will have to kill Murtagh. I must find the last dragon egg, lest your species become extinct. I must kill the Ra'zac and free Katrina. My fate is decided, and in the end, I will leave this land forever, never to return._

Saphira was deeply offended. _YOU? _she roared in his head. _You will do all this? I think not! You forget who you are Eragon. You forget who I am. You are Eragon. You are Argetlam. You are Shur'tugal. You are Shadeslayer. And I am Saphira. I am Bjartskular. I am Skulblaka. I am Brightscales. You will never face ANYTHING alone._

_I am son of Morzan, _Eragon commented, unable to slip from his despair.

_YOU ARE NOT SON OF MORZAN! _Saphira roared, unable to contain herself any longer.

_Then who is my true father?_ Eragon demanded angrily.

Saphira knew that she shouldn't have spoken. She knew that she couldn't reveal the secret she had been told. She remained silent.

_Thought so,_ Eragon said.

_**While two may share two,**_

_**And one of two is certainly one,**_

_**One might be two.**_

_Father and son alike, both blind as bats._

Saphira cried silently through the whole night.

A/N: Yes, I am a huge supporter of all Shur'tugal's theories. I won't tell the theory, just in case you don't know it. You should be able to figure it out, or at least figure most of it out by the stuff I put here. I love Saphira, she's a great character, and it's an honor to write her. Please REVIEW! I want to know what you think, good or bad!


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